| Pilot: | Rick Roelke | | Date: | May 30th, 2004 (Sunday) | | Scored Flight: | yes | | Glider: | 304-CZ | | Tail Number: | RR | | Division: | Gold | | Distance Flown: | 350.35 km | | Points: | 332.83 | | Start Point: | Sterling | | Turn Point 1: | 43 50 54 N 71 45 58 W | | Turn Point 2: | 43 18 51 N 72 03 29 W | | Turn Point 3: | 43 21 05 N 72 12 55 W | | Turn Point 4: | 42 46 12 N 71 46 27 W | | Turn Point 5: | 42 25 06 N 71 47 40 W | | Finish: | Sterling | | IGC: | 45UF04Y1.igc | | Flight Description: | This day I had been watching for sometime coming. I have been asked to present a seminar on Soaring forecasting, and I had even been archiving the forecast information that made this day look good out as much as 4 days. As it approached it became apparent that the wind would not be as calm as I had hoped. But it still held promise as a great day. I got to the field early and rigged quickly. Roy Bourgeois was the first one off, and that is an impressive sight. The Nimbus, full of water, is a heavy beast. The wings, not only long, but droopy from the weight of the water, leaves almost no room for error on the launch. As he gained speed the tips slowly rise, and continue to rise, and you begin to wonder if the fuselage will catch up some day. But after taking on a graceful arc, the glider lifts off to join its wings. The towplane, now rushing headlong toward the trees at the departure end of the runway, does a gentle pull up and, they both slip over the trees, and head out of sight.
A few more launches, and a few hiccups resulted in delaying my launch to 11:30. I had hoped for the “grand tour”, Sterling, Mt Washington, Sugarbush, and back, but the wind was making that plan look very difficult. But there was nothing at stake here, just a fun day, so no problem I would fly what I could.
I decided I would head north, and see what I could make. Got off a bit above 2500k as we were in some strong sink at my normal release height. Took a leisurely 3kt thermal too about 6k only to find I was probably just a little “left” of 6kts all the way up. Toped out at 7k and headed north. Took a good one north of Fitchburg where it was showing 8kts on the averager. This one might end up in wave so at the top I pushed out in front of the cloud.
I had heard Nine Zero (Bob Fletcher) say he was in wave, and also Tango Lima (Tony Lauck) at Sugarbush say he was climbing at 8ks through 9000 ft in wave. I asked Tony what the winds were and he said they were over 40 kts. Often to contact wave on top of convection, I would climb to cloudbase and push out in front and “ridge soar” the face of the cloud. Today, I found that I needed to fly straight ahead for more distance to contact the best wave lift. My theory is, there was so much wind on top (about 25kts in the boundary layer, and 40+ on top) that the clouds were quickly separated from the wave system. The clouds were indicating quite a bit down wind from where the best lift was. Some of these wave climbs were quite strong. While I did not see the 8ks reported by some, I did have several 6kt climbs in wave.
From Fitchburg I tried to press north on top. I knew this would not be the fastest way, as I was bucking far more wind, but the notion of wave XC has always fascinated me. Practice makes perfect and it was looking like a good opportunity. From Fitchburg to Henniker I was able to stay on top, or, well, sort of. I would climb in wave, and then push forward to the next cycle. I would often end up just below cloudbase. Cruising with lots of speed from the transition, I could pull up in front of the cloud, and reconnect with the wave. With 40kts of wind, there was no need to do anything but slow to a crawl and climb.
From Henniker to north of Plymouth, I was below the clouds. The wave system was not as distinct but the thermal flying was good. But as I got closer to Plymouth NH the wind picked up considerably. I was over a small lake, and noticing very distinct and windblown whitecaps. From my sailing experience, it looked to be blowing nearly 25kts on the ground. The high wind seemed to work in concert with the high and varied tertian to rip up the thermals to make them very difficult to work. I poked northward from wisp to wisp trying to get back on top. I could see a very strong cloud that looked to be wave boosted several miles north of Plymouth but I wanted as much room between me, and the intimidating terrain as possible. However, with the airport downwind, there was little need for concern other than the long retrieve it would have meant to land there.
When I finally got to the strong cloud reconnecting to the wave was easy. As I approached 10,000 ft in the wave I could easily have made it down on to the Franconia ridge, and made my new, downgraded Turnpoint of Franconia, but it was not clear how I would get back. The wave system was strongly influenced by the local Mountains, and cloudbases were much lower north of the Whites. While I could easily get in, it did not look good to get out. Discretion being the better part of valor, I decided to head back. At nearly 11000 ft and 100miles out, my flight computer indicated I had final glide to Sterling. Mentioning this on the radio, Mike Kilo (Mark Koepper) replied, “Gee Rick, I didn’t expect you to stay local today”…
Now I knew my computer was lying as it was not taking into account the fact that the wind was not blowing at my back at 40kts all the way to the ground (unlike some, locally engineered flight computers). But I also knew I could ride the wave most of the way home, and it would indeed likely mean a 100mile leg home with no turns.
I turned south and flew at best L/d and cruised along in the perfectly smooth wave lift gaining and loosing just a few hundred ft over 40 miles. I could see the wave marked by the Cu that were assisted by the wave. It was not a continuous line of cloud but from this high I could more easily see the “connection” between the disparate puffs of cloud. At the end of the 40 miles even with a few down wind transitions I ended up 500 ft higher than when I started. I was now wishing I had stayed on the wave system I started on, it would have brought me over Springfield where most of the rest of the crew headed to.
I decided to try an up wind transition and work my way closer to Claremont or Springfield. Well that one cost me. I picked a spot that was not marked with clouds, hoping to avoid the strongest sink. But even there I was blasting forward at 100kts in 10ks+ sink. I was able to reconnect above cloudbase but the system I was in now was not as strong, and it was going to be an arduous and slow series of up wind dashes to make Springfield, so between Newport and Claremont, I went back to my down wind surfing, cruising the wave bars SSW and then “blowing over the back” to the next bar. I ended up above Monadnock at 9000 ft and from there it was a bullet ride home.
A great day, beautiful flight, with 3/4 of the distance flown in wave, and the longest “final glide” of my life…
Rick
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